Marcus Fraser pipped Martin Wiegele to the dual-ranking BMW Russian Open in a sudden-death play off after both men registered final rounds of 68 to record 19-under-par totals of 269 at the Moscow Country Club.

The Australian secured the title - and a cheque for over £46,000 - at the second extra hole, the 18th, with a par four after both players had birdied the same hole first time round.

At the second time of asking, Fraser fired his tee shot into the trees, played out and managed to get up and down from around 75 yards - holing a 12-foot putt.

However, Wiegele, from Austria, could not match that feat from the greenside rough to hand 25-year-old Fraser the title.

Fraser, who won a play-off at the Challenge Tour's Talma Finnish Challenge just two weeks ago, secured his European Tour card for 2004 with this victory and admitted: "I'm still in state of shock to be honest with you.

"That was the most pressure I've ever played under and I'm just absolutely delighted to have secured an exemption for the European Tour next year.

"It's a dream for me and now I can hopefully go and win a few more tournaments on the main Tour and work my way up the rankings.

"I played really well all week - but at the moment I'm just in a world of my own.

"This is my second play-off win in the last two tournaments I have played and I'd like to try and not make a habit of it, but I'm not complaining at the moment - I'm just delighted to have won.

"I wasn't that nervous during the play-off - I had more butterflies going on the 72nd hole than I was on the extra holes. I just sort of kept grinding it out at that point."

Sweden's Peter Hanson finished in third place on 16 under, with Scotsman Andrew Coltart and England's Tim Milford tied for fourth alongside Spaniard Jose Manuel Carriles on 14-under-par 274.

Pre-tournament favourite Coltart, who moved up one place to 29th on the Volvo Order of Merit, never had any preconceptions about only having to turn up and win in Russia, given that the event was mainly contested by players from the Challenge Tour.

"It was a good week," he said. "I played nicely and managed to continue my good form, so I'm quite happy.

"I'm swinging the club really well at the moment and giving myself a lot of good chances and that's making all the difference really.

"There was never any feeling other than you have to play well to win out here - I've played on the Challenge Tour before and it was never going to be easy out here."

Collated fourth round scores in the BMW Russia Open at Le Meridien Moscow G&CC, Le Meridien Moscow G & CC, Russia (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

269 Marcus Fraser (Aus) 68 65 68 68, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 68 66 67 68

(Fraser wins at 2nd extra play-off hole)

272 Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 68 67 66

274 Jose Manuel Carriles (Spa) 68 67 70 69, Tim Milford 72 68 67 67, Graeme Storm 71 69 69 65, Andrew Coltart 69 67 69 69

275 Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 70 70 67 68

276 Kalle Brink (Swe) 69 66 71 70, Robert Rock 68 69 70 69

277 Michele Reale (Ita) 72 68 71 66, Richard McEvoy 70 68 71 68, Jesus Arruti (Spa) 68 69 69 71

278 Steven O'Hara 67 72 70 69, Ian Garbutt 69 70 69 70, David Orr 68 72 67 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 67 68 72 71, Garry Houston 74 66 66 72, Shaun P Webster 73 66 68 71, Damien McGrane 70 68 69 71

279 Sion Bebb 69 69 69 72, Markus Brier (Aut) 72 68 71 68, Sebastian Fernandez (Arg) 69 69 71 70, Alvaro Salto (Spa) 72 68 70 69, Jamie Little 71 68 72 68

280 Oskar Bergman (Swe) 68 71 71 70, Erol Simsek (Ger) 70 68 73 69, James Hepworth 73 65 72 70, Michael Archer 68 71 71 70, Richard Dinsdale 69 70 71 70

281 Ivo Giner (Spa) 70 71 72 68, Joakim Rask (Swe) 67 69 73 72, Andrew Raitt 70 72 68 71, Renaud Guillard (Fra) 70 66 71 74, Jamie Elson 69 65 78 69, Nicolas Vanhootegem (Bel) 66 72 68 75

282 David Ryles 68 66 68 80, Ben Mason 73 69 71 69, Massimo Florioli (It) 71 70 67 74, Didier De Vooght (Bel) 71 71 69 71, Chris Gane 73 69 70 70

283 Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 71 70 72 70, Marco Bernardini (Ita) 68 72 72 71, Mark Davis 67 69 74 73, Steven Bowditch (Aus) 71 69 66 77, Fredrik Orest (Swe) 69 72 71 71, Sven Struver (Ger) 70 70 73 70, Pasi Purhonen (Fin) 71 66 71 75

284 Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 71 69 70 74, Mark Pilkington 69 73 71 71, John Mellor 73 68 70 73, Stuart Little 74 66 71 73, Jean Louis Guepy (Fra) 67 73 72 72, Euan Little 70 72 73 69, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 69 70 70 75

285 Ilya Goroneskoul (Fra) 70 68 73 74, Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 71 71 73 70, Scott Drummond 71 71 70 73, Kalle Vainola (Fin) 70 71 74 70, Stefano Reale (Ita) 71 70 71 73, Pehr Magnebrant (Swe) 67 74 74 70, Thomas Besancenez (Swe) 68 70 74 73

286 Bjorn Pettersson (Swe) 70 70 74 72, Mark Mouland 69 72 72 73, Dominique Nouailhac (Fra) 73 69 72 72

287 Paul Mckechnie 71 69 73 74, Paul Dwyer 69 70 75 73, Thomas Norret (Den) 70 72 70 75, Federico Bisazza (Ita) 71 71 70 75

288 Sam Walker 73 69 75 71, Regis Gustave (StL) 70 71 71 76, Phillip Archer 69 71 73 75, Gianluca Baruffaldi (Ita) 67 73 73 75, Marcello Santi (Ita) 67 72 73 76, Lee S James 69 70 75 74

291 Lionel Alexandre (Fra) 71 71 74 75

293 Hennie Walters (Rsa) 71 70 77 75